Drier



June 6, 1944.

' o. BYRON El'AL DRYER Filed Aug. 5. 1942 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 VENTORS Ca INJune 6, 1944.

QBYRON ETAL DRYER Filed Aug. 5, 1942 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVESTORS ORNEYSJune 6, 1944. o. BYRON ET AL 5 5 I I DRYER Filed Aug. 5, 1942 6Sheets-Sheet 4 INVE @uam ATTORNEYS June 6,1944. 0. BYRON m1. 2,350,672

DRYER Filed Aug. 5, 1942 e Sheets-Sheet 5,

Illlllln Elllllllllllllllllllllllllhi w 0 INVILTORs o BY I E M vA'ITORNEYS June 6,1944. Y o, BYRON HAL I 2,350,672

DRYER 7 Filed Aug. 5, 1942 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVE BY L A TTOR NEYS 'arrangement had' its Patented June 6, 1944 DRIER Oscar Byron, New York,and Kenneth H. Jones,

Hollis, N. Y., ing Corporation, tion of New York assignors to J.

New York,

0, Ross Engineer N. Y., acor'pora- Application August 5, 1942, SerialNo. 453,622

} meat. This invention relates to driers. In the manufacture of coatedwelding'rods or electrodes, the rods must be treated in anoven to dryout a certain amount of moisture and; in

ing or baking which involve time; and atmospheric control within-thebaking medium. For example, certain types of coatings require a greaterinitial humidity condition for time in the dryer than others while sometypes ofcoating require little or no humidity in the initial stages ofdrying.

An object of this'invention is a drying oven which can take care ofthevariables above mentioned and will process all types of electrodesathigh speed-wh' e requiring a minimum amount of floor space.

Formerdesigns of equipment for this typeof work consisted of a singletunnel-type drier or multiples thereof placed in line through which theelectrodes, on some conveying means, were caused to travel. Zones ofcontrol either were not adequately provided for or were accomplished bya distinct separation of the tunnel'units} A subsequent "modification ofthis arrangement floorspace involved superposing two or more tunnels sothat at least. two lines formed with a means of transfer from an upperline of travel to a lower. This limitations in high cost and lack ofease of accessibility. This latter condition usually limited such an.arrangement to two passes of the conveyor. Also, in' this'a'rrangement,limitations as to the speed of output for the occupied space of theapparatusdc:- veloped." a 1 I In the present invention, the'gr'eatestadvam tage is taken of floor 7 degree of'accessibility is obtainedthrough the new arrangement 'of multiple pass conveyors and individualzone controlsystems. Easy accessibil ity to all parts of the unit isprovidedand'the entire systemi's enclosedin' one complete housing. Inthe processing of electrodes, a certainl'en'gth of time must elapsein-e'a'ch zone ofop'eiatioii in order to accomplish the necessary efiectupoii the coating. In the initial stages, the rods'are wet andconsequently soft and'easiliy damaged a Car be eiiercisedf to "lgeep'the rods" apart until such" time as treatment has progressed to thespace and the greatest point where contactor movement will-no longer marthe coatings. Thereafter, the rods maybe placed in contact with eachother and further Zone within the minimum range of the oven}- The ovenis designed to provide the zone separation with individual tunnel unitssuperpo'sed on each other in multiple layers to givethe ad'- Vantage oflow total height thereby permitting of complete observation of operationand complete Unlike former practice, the oven is designed sothateachpass iscQmpIeteIyseparated from the others by means of horizontaldividing insulated partitions. arrangement not'only allows difierenttemperatures to be used in the variouspasses but prevents a rod" from anupper pass falling down should the rod accidently fall offa conv yor;

Means for collecting such rods and. subsequent removalfrom the-oven areprovided. Each pass may be separated from the other'from asta'nd pointof temperature control and yet the entire system is-enclosed within asingle housing; At the end of each pass of conveyor, there is13rdvided-transferring mechanism which conveys'rbds from an upper to alower "g' the coating. Such transfer mechanism consists of anindependent conveyor driven rromthe main conveyor eachpass towhich areattached specially shaped. transfer, plates; so designed as pickup therods witht e into a lower pass slightly above the rods may ride onextending over the tops he complete co all times and is at alarrangement, t

can be seen at cessible for servicing.

An additional f is the completely low the ducts a veyor extending passso that if tween the two cha rod will fall upon the and remain thereuntil operations are necess is accomplished by w service doors.

Preferably, th chains fitted w chains may be the so-called perat binedwi maycons pass or bot of the fourth'an of this arrange'rne treatment ofthe r0 provides easier er points and diametersof'rods to be han cility.The heat of heat produced [as gas-or oil in at a" temperature sooperating tempera (1 into a, main duct is mai control operat From thismain duct the air is bled into each of '4 a circulating sysing systemconsists of a c by any of the u l or electricity,

mewhat eleva dampers system also may pendent" heatm quiring amultiplicit unitsfor the entir have itsown contro erating directly on.Another feature of themes inter -changeability ample, "in e- I I Ifive-pass ov constitute th e'first pass or the tli'the seco tituteeither length of time top of the ducts s the conveyor with free spaceprovi d the return pass the full width a rod should a the conveyor, suchtition below such time as cleaning Removal of fallen rods ithdrawingthrough the dividing par e conveyor chains are aight side bars. f thesingle strand duplex strand d vantage of this type c acomparatively rodsto rest; on, pression on the c of electrode. initial stages of treatmesoftest? With this ty remain" any pl possible cont take-place w chain"also transf thereby cau controlled circu anged at will. be arranged foran 1 system with t the source of heat.

nd pass; The sec nt over other ty increased orshortened as desir withthe time merit of' the particular 1 A furtherfeat arrangement of ductswithin eac exten'dsthe fulllen elements require ure of the pre the-flow=ofair fro h pass or conveyor.

0 that the their ends With this nveyor full of rods 1 times aci thisduct arrangement (led directly beof the congth of each 10 ccidently dropbe side roller Suchdesign or of The adthat it provides ing surface forthe sing'little or no decalled soft type t in the the rods are i chain,the rods will e theyare put without act witheach othe ith-the usual rsuch as might '30 f chain. This flow of rods atthe tandard lengths anddled with equal faentral source 1 means such from which air ted abovethe W the hottest t. The temntained at a constant ing directly din eachzone of opely independent lating system is The heating entirelyindezone, this reheating and circulating n. Each such unit will econtrols opon is the f control. For exg en, thefirst zone may first passcom--v ondzone the second pass or the third h, while the third z d fifthpasses.-

consist The advantage pes is that the ds may be ed in accordance d forthe treatsent invention is'the m the supply 'Such ducts and because 7 oftheir arrangement permit of direct impingement of hot air against therods throughout the full length of travel in the oven without having theduct extending under the rods so as to prevent their dropping into thespace below the ducts. In this way, a rapidity of drying or baking isobtained that could not be obtained by the previous design and greaterproduction is thereby accomplished.

Other objects, novel features and advantages or this invention willbecome apparent from the following specification and accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a drier embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are sections respectively on the lines 3-3, 4-4, 5-5and 6-6 of Figs. 1 and 2 with details of the conveyor omitted;

Fig. '7 is an enlarged section on the line 1-1 of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 8' is an end'view of the transfer mechansim;

Fig. 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8, and

Fig. 10 is a schematic view illustrating the drive mechanism. V

The drier consists of a t nel l0 having walls of heat insulationconstruction and provided with a plurality'of horizontal partitions ll,some of which are in part of heat-insulation construction. Thisarrangement of partitions provides full length chambers l3; l4, l5, I6and I1. The tunnel H! is of greater width over its central portion 10aand in this portion are provided vertical grills l2 forming lateralchambers l8, I9, 20, 2| and 22 along both flanks of the central chambersl3, l4, l5, l6, l1 respectively and communicating therewith. Thesuccessive horizontal partitions alternately terminate short of one endof the tunnel thereby forming passageways between successive chamberswith the successive passageways being alternately arranged at oppositeends of the tunnel. The ends of the tunnel are closed except for anupper right end opening and a lower left end opening.

A frame 23 is supported in each central chamher by angle bars 24 spacedslightly above the horizontal partition H at each end of the oven. On'the upper surface of each frame 23 are mounted'two tracks 25and similartracks 25a are-mounted directly below the tracks 25. At the endrofeachcentral chamber is rotatably mounted a shaft 21' equipped with apair of sprocket wheels 28. The right end shafts 21 of chambers I4 and.I6 are arranged'inwardly of the right end shafts 21 of chambers l5 andI] while the left end'shafts 21 of chambers l3 and I5 are arrangedinwardly of the left end shafts 21 of-.chambers l4 and I6. Two endlessroller chains i29 of the straight-sidebar type are trained around thesprocket wheels for each j chamber toformja conveyor having its upperreach'guided by the tracks 25 and its lower reach guided by the tracks25a. At the left end of chamber 13, right end of chamber 14, left end ofchamber l5 and right end of chamber l6,'the

' corresponding shaft 21 is provided with an additional pair ofsprockets 30 arranged between-the sprockets 28. Also, an additionalshaft is located slightly above the upper reach of the conveyor for the,next lower central chamber and is provided with a pair of sprocketwheels 32, A third shaft 33 extends between the reachesof theupperchamber conveyor and is.provided th a :Pa r 9 r c whe fl-inlistchain 35 of the straight side bar type passes around each set ofsprocket; wheels 30, 32 and 34 and together, the two chains 35constitute a conveyor which is provided with a plurality of outwardlyextending plates 35. Two angle guide members 31 are arranged exteriorlyof the sprocket wheels 28 with one surface of each angle member being inalinement with the path traversed by a point slightly spaced inwardlyfrom the end of each plate 36 during its travel part-way around thesprocket wheel 28 and down to and part-way around the sprocket wheel 32,the ends of each guide 3'! being curved to lie out of alinement with thepath of the edges of the plates 36.

The mechanism just described constitutes mechanism for transferring rodsfrom one conveyor to the next lower conveyor. By reference to'liig. 10,it will be seen that as the rods on the upper reach of the upperconveyor approach the sprocket wheels 28, the plates 36 are projectedbetween successive rods and support the rods as they leave the conveyorwhen the latter passes around the sprocket wheels 28. The plates '36support the rods R. until the blades begin to swing around the sprockets32 whereupon the rods are moved by gravity into contact with the guides31 by which they are delivered to the upper reach of the next lowerconveyor.

In each chamber, a duct 40 is supported by the bars 24 along each sideof the frame 23 and each duct is provided at its upper inner corner withoutlets by means of which air is discharged from the duct into directcontact with rods supported by the chain 29. At spaced locations alongthe wide portion I a of the tunnel are provided blowers 4|, 42 and 43 bymeans of which drying air is supplied to the ducts 40. As the supplyarrangement for each blower is the same, only one will be described indetail.

Each blower discharges into a laterally ar ranged header 44 which isprovided at each end with two conduits 45 and 46 of which 45 leads to aduct 40 in one chamber while the conduit 46 leads to a duct 40 in thenext lower chamber and in the conduits are provided dampers 47 and 48respectively. The blower 4| supplies chambers i3 and I4, blower 42supplies chambers l4 and I and blower 43 supplies chambers 16 and 11.

Each blower receives air of predetermined temperature from a mixing box49 to which hot air is supplied through a conduit 50 controlled by adamper 5| and which has an inlet 52 for atmospheric air. Conduits 53 and54 c0mmunicate with the mixing box 49, of which 53 leads from onelateral chamber and the conduit 54 leads from the next lower lateralchamber, the conduits being provided with dampers 55 and 55. Eachlateral chamber communicates with the corresponding central chamber sothat each conduit conveys air from a central chamber to a mixing box.Preferably, the arrangement of the conduits 53 and 55 corresponds to thearrangement of the conduits 45 and 46 so that air supplied by the blowerto a chamber is returned to the mixing box for that blower.

Hot air is supplied to the conduit 59 from a heating system 58, theparticular structure of which forms no part of'this invention andtherefore is not described in detail. Each damper 5| is controlled byone or more thermostats arranged in the various chambers so that thetem-- 3 perature of the air in any chamber may be maintained constant.

The conduits leading from the blowers to the ducts 40 and from thelateral chambers to the mixing boxes 49 are so arranged that the chamber13 by itself or in combination with the chamber l4 may constitute afirst treating zone, that either the chamber I4 or the chamber [5 orboth chambers together may constitute a second treating zone whilechambers 16 and I! may constitute a third'treating zone. As shown inFig. 3, conduits 53 and 54 lead from lateral chambers l9 and 26 to onemixing box 49 while as shown in Fig. 7 other. conduits 53 and 54leadfrom lateral chambers lB'and H) to another mixing box. Also, as shown inFig. 4, conduits 45 and 46 lead from header 44 to the ducts 46 ofchambers l4 and I5. As previously described, other ducts lead fromanother header 44 to. the ducts of chambers l3 and I4 while stillanother set of conduits45 and 46 lead from a third header 44 to theducts of chambers I 6 and I1. Thus, by proper manipulation of thedampers 41, 48, 55 and 56, numerous difierent arrangements of zones maybe effected.

At either end of the tunnel, exhaust mechanism is provided forwithdrawing gases from the oven. As these mechanisms involve noparticular novelty they are notherein described: in detail. Numerousaccess doors 60 are provided in the lateral walls of the oven and aresuitably arranged to afford the highest degree of accessibility. Thedoors are suitably insulated toprevent unnecessary loss of heat. i

The outlets from each duct 40 are so arranged as to provide an obliqueair stream and horizontal air stream. This arrangement insures uniformsupply of air over the entire length of the welding rods.

A separate source of power 6| is provided for each of the conveyors 29and power is transmitted from the source 5| to the conveyor by means ofthe belt or chain 62. With this arrangement, the speed of the variousconveyors may be independently regulated so that the length of traveltime of a welding rod in the different zones may be varied as desired.

It is of course understood that various modifications may be made in thestructure herein disclosed without in any way departing from the spiritof the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We-claim:

1. A drier comprising a tunnel oven having a plurality of horizontalpartitionsforming longitudinal chambers, a conveyor extendinglongitudinally of each chamber, a duct in each chamber having adisoharge'aperture for supplying air to materials supported by saidconveyor, aplurality of heated air suppliers, conduits for conveying airfrom each supplier to the ducts of at least a pair of chambers with twosuppliers being arranged to furnish air to the same chamber, a damperfor each conduit, and means for returning air from at least two chambersto each supplier.

2. A drier comprising a tunnel oven having a plurality of horizontalpartitions forming longitudinal chambers, a conveyor extendinglongitudinally of each chamber, a duct in each chamber having adischarge aperture for supplying air to materials supported by saidconveyor, a plurality of heated air suppliers, conduits for conveyingair from each supplier to the ducts of at least a pair of chambers withtwo suppliers being arranged to" furnish air to the same chamber, adamper for each conduit, 'andconduits'for returning air from eachchamber to the" same supplier from which'heated air was. conveyedthereto. t

3. A drier comprising a tunnel oven having a plurality of horizontalpartitions forming longi-' tudinal chambers, a conveyor extendinglongitudinally of each chamber, a duct in each chamberhaving a dischargeaperture for supplying air to materials supported by said conveyor, aplurality of heated air suppliers, damper-cone trolled conduits forselectively conveying airfrom each supplier to the. ducts of at least apair of chambers with two su pliers being arranged to furnish air to thesame chamber, and conduits for returning air from each chamber to thesame supplier from whichheated air was conveyed thereto. 1

4. A'drier comprising a tunnel'oven having a plurality of horizontalpartitions forming'longitudinal chambers, a conveyorextendinglongitudinally of each chamber, a duct in each chainher havinga. discharge aperture for supplying air to materials supported by saidconveyor, a plurality of heated air suppliers, conduits for conveyingair from each supplier to the ducts of at least a pair of chambers withtwo suppliers being arranged to furnish air to the same chamber, adamper for each conduit, means for returning air from at least twochambers to each supplier,.and means at one end of a chamber forautomatically transferring material from one co'nveyor to the next lowerconveyor.

5. In combination, a pair of superposed horizontally arranged conveyors,each conveyor consisting of two roller chains supported by sprocketwheels, a third conveyor consisting of two roller chains supportedbythree pairs of sprocket wheels of which one pair is coaxial with onepair of sprocket wheels of the upper conveyor and a second pair isarrange'd- 'between the two conveyors while the remaining pair -islocated between the upper and lower reaches of the upper conveyorwhereby a reach of the third conveyor approaches the upper reach of theupper conveyor ata slight yinclination, spaced outwardly extendingblades carried by said third conveyor, and guide means arranged to beengaged by material supported by said blades to direct said material tosaid lower conveyor.

6. A drier comprising a tunnel oven having a horizontal partition, anendless conveyor extending longitudinally of the oven and having twospaced reaches at-difierent elevations with respect to said partitions,a duct extending along each side of said conveyor with the duct bottomspaced from said partition and the duct top at a slightly lowerelevation than the top reach of the conveyor to provide clear spacebelow the conveyor the full width of the partition, discharge aperturesin said ducts for directing air horizontally and obliquely toward thecenter of the conveyor, and means for supplying heated air to saidducts.

7. A drier according to claim 6 characterized by a multiplicity ofaccess doors in at least one of the side walls for facilitating removalof material that may have fallen into the space below the lower reach ofsaid conveyor.

, OSCAR BYRON.

KENNETH H. JONES.

